question about terms used with Pioneer 6 |
question about terms used with Pioneer 6 |
Mar 6 2019, 02:40 AM
Post
#1
|
||
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 91 Joined: 21-August 06 Member No.: 1063 |
I have been doing some research on Pioneer 6. I needed to convert a 2- 36 bit word double precision octal sequence into the number of seconds past 1950. The image Iam uploaded provide examples of what the answers should be after conversion to date. My main question is, does anyone know what MSP and LSP stand for? I was thinking maybe MSP and LSP was some well known JPL abreviation for something. |
|
|
||
Mar 6 2019, 03:07 AM
Post
#2
|
|
Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2511 Joined: 13-September 05 Member No.: 497 |
does anyone know what MSP and LSP stand for? Most significant/least significant part. Floating point double precision is a clue. Pioneer 6 was run by NASA Ames, I'm not sure what computer types they were using (this was long before IEEE floating point standardization.) -------------------- Disclaimer: This post is based on public information only. Any opinions are my own.
|
|
|
Mar 6 2019, 03:59 AM
Post
#3
|
|
Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 91 Joined: 21-August 06 Member No.: 1063 |
Most significant/least significant part. Great! thanks. Thats what I was looking for.Floating point double precision is a clue. Pioneer 6 was run by NASA Ames, I'm not sure what computer types they were using (this was long before IEEE floating point standardization.) |
|
|
Mar 6 2019, 04:06 AM
Post
#4
|
|
Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8783 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Admin note: Topic moved to Chit Chat from Mars section.
-------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
|
|
|
Mar 10 2019, 06:34 PM
Post
#5
|
|
Newbie Group: Members Posts: 15 Joined: 17-July 15 Member No.: 7604 |
I think the first three octal digits are the exponent (power of two) with an offset applied (which I'm too lazy to work out) followed by the mantissa. The examples do not seem to be the exact number of days I was initially expecting; the bit patterns seem to match the number of seconds part-way through the specified days. They do not seem to be an exact number of seconds, either, so presumably this format recorded higher-precision times than mere seconds.
|
|
|
Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 23rd April 2024 - 09:30 PM |
RULES AND GUIDELINES Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting. IMAGE COPYRIGHT |
OPINIONS AND MODERATION Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators. |
SUPPORT THE FORUM Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member. |